Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ... Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of song and lyrics from Matt Maher singing … Abide With Me … poignantly singing of how we can - as disciples of Christ - Invite the Lord to abide with us as a friend.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Exodus 33:11a [ESV] ... 11 Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. ...
… Moses had the Tent of Meetings to go and share personal time with God just as he would with a dear friend.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Exodus 3:9-11 [ESV] ... USE THIS LINK ...
… Moses had a tent to go to abide with God.
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Reference Passage : … Proverbs 18:24, 27:17 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Solomon, shows us what real - true - friends are all about … always being there for us and helping us grow in the Lord.
Reference Passage : … John 15:13-15 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus shows His disciples (and us) that He is always there to abide with us if we’re willing to abide with Him … just a true friend would.
Reference Passage : … 1 Peter 5:6-7 [ESV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Peter, shows us that the Lord is always willing to lift us up when we’re humbly willing to come to Him with our cares.
Reference Passage : … Revelation 3:20 [ESV] … … 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
… Jesus is always there for His “friends,” desiring to fellowship with those who desire His friendship.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Patricia Raybon, shows how the use of a “friendship bench” can help to lift up the spirits of those who need a friend. … The ODB author wrote: In the African country of Zimbabwe, war trauma and high unemployment can leave people in despair—until they find hope on a “friendship bench.” Hopeless people can go there to talk with trained “grandmothers”—elderly women taught to listen to people struggling with depression, known in that nation’s Shona language as kufungisisa, or “thinking too much.”
The Friendship Bench Project is being launched in other places, including Zanzibar, London, and New York City. [see photo] “We were thrilled to bits with the results,” said one London researcher. A New York counselor agreed. “Before you know it, you’re not on a bench, you’re just inside a warm conversation with someone who cares.”
Moses had a special place (i.e., the Tent of Meetings) to go and experience the closeness of God [see highlight passage], … like going and sitting with a friend to unburden himself. And we Christians have our own special place too, don’t we? But we don’t need a tent or a “friendship bench” (see photo) to go and share our burdens with the living God. All we have to do is be willing to humbly open our hearts and let King Jesus come in and be our Friend (especially see John 15:15 and Rev. 3:20 and the other reference scriptures).
We can find a place in the solitude of our hearts … any time … anywhere … to take our cares to our “Friend,” Who just happens to be the living God; and One Who desires to be our Friend … AGAIN … ANY TIME, … ANYWHERE.
That’s where I am right now, dear ones, … in my quiet place, where I can abide and commune with God each morning … on my own, special, “friendship bench,” abiding and unloading with my dearest Friend, Jesus, to begin my day. That’s what Matt Maher sings about in the linked song; and I pray you have your own special “friendship bench,” to be with our mutual Friend, King Jesus.
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My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, Jesus, … for coming into my heart whenever I need Your friendship.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... I pray, Lord, that all reading here will join me today, to go to our personal and special quiet place to share with our Friend, Jesus. Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.</ span>
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